In My Arms
by Pyro'sBest
Summary: Lily walks into the Head's dormitories to find James looking adorable asleep on the sofa. She can't resist temptation. Nothing good can ensue. Re-written, hopefully better version.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**A/N: This is the re-written (hopefully, you'll agree better) version of the original.  
**

**Name: **In My Arms

**Lily POV **

With our patrol duties finished, James and I turned round and headed back to the dormitory that as Head Girl and Head Boy we shared. We talked and joked easily; much to the surprise of everybody else in Hogwarts, we'd become good friends this past year.

James stated the password to the portrait at the door, she was an amicable lady in a startling yellow dress and even more startling yellow hat. As always he motioned for me to enter the passage first and, as always, my heart gave that little jump.

We carried on talking all the way through our cosy little living room and down the wood panelled corridor pausing where it split off to the two doors to our separate rooms. Our own little routine.

We were standing very close together so when he spoke I could feel his breath on my face. "Well, goodnight Lily." He said with a smile, the way he always did after our patrol nights. And as I was about to reply, James pressed his lips to my cheek.

This was different. This was new. This was _amazing._

I could feel the hair that he was constantly pushing away from his forehead tickle my temple. I stopped breathing. Through those two tiny point of contact between us, it somehow felt as if I was surrounded by him, encompassed by him.

James pulled away slowly, his eyes even wider than my own. I saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

"I…um…sorry!" he blurted, then promptly turned on his heel and walked through his bedroom door.

I stood and stared at the space he'd previously occupied for a few seconds. Then I realised what I was doing and hurried into my own room in case he emerged from his for what ever reason to find me standing in the same spot with my face as red as my hair like a complete loon. I may have admitted to myself some months ago that I was falling for him but that did not mean I was willing to be embarrassed like that.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned as I entered our head's common room after spending my entire Friday afternoon and evening with Remus in the library researching our latest transfiguration essay. Being as engrossed in our work as we were, we had missed dinner completely. Furthermore, on the way here, my bag straps had mysteriously snapped sending my books flying down two flights of stairs and since I'd managed to spill pumpkin juice all over my cloak this morning meaning I could not wear it, I currently felt even more like an ice cube than normal. Today was not my day.

Like most Friday nights I dumped my much repaired bag by the table and made to sit in my usual spot but paused halfway there. James was asleep, sprawled out across the very sofa I was about to sit down on. His shirt was untucked, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows giving me a fantastic view of his powerful, lightly tanned forearms. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone and his tie lolled loosely round his neck.

My mouth watered.

Huffing, I plonked myself most ungracefully in the less comfortable armchair on the other side of the fire to resist temptation. But temptation was looking only far too delicious right now. He seemed strangely innocent like that, young despite the fact that his legs were scrunched up to compensate for his impressive height. His glasses were set askew where his face pressed into the cushion, and his hair was falling over his forehead and eyes. My hand twitched to push it away.

I removed my shoes to tuck my frozen feet under my body and loosened my tie and buttons in an effort to relax – like I could with him over there like that. I took out the book I had been reading earlier to divert my attention but my eyes kept flicking back to him. A shudder wracked my body and I couldn't tell if it was the fire defrosting my icy muscles or because James had stretched to reveal a little stripe of caramel skin between his trousers and shirt.

After ten minutes of sitting there I'd read an entire page but couldn't have told you a single word it said. I re-read the page but the same thing happened. After a third time of reading but not comprehending I got annoyed with myself, gave up and watched the boy – man – who slept so obliviously across from me.

I was glad he was finally sleeping; all of the seventh years were currently having to find their own ways of dealing with the stress of exams but James and I seemed to be suffering particularly badly with the added pressure of being Head Boy and Girl.

James and I had both found that the stress was effecting our sleep specifically. We'd met many nights either in here or down in the kitchens sipping hot chocolate and talking about anything on our minds. I found myself enjoying those conversations far too much. I'd had to admit to myself that this year James was like a new person.

When I'd heard that James was going to be Head boy alongside me I was ready to beg and plead with Dumbledore till he changed his mind but there had been no need to. James turned up to that very first meeting organised, mature and sensible even if could never get rid of the playful gleam in his eye that I had to admit had always been a _little bit_ attractive. I liked this new James, he was someone I felt I could trust and not just with duties either. He still pulled the occasional pranks, however they were not at all malicious, so much so that the victim would often be laughing as much as everybody else. Even his stupid (apart from Remus) friends no longer bothered me with their constant loitering around our little common room.

It had been almost a full week since he'd kissed me on the cheek. The following morning had been painfully awkward but as our joint insomnia grew worse through the week we'd spent so many entire nights talking that any tension was forced to dissipate. So yes, I was glad that James was finally sleeping; maybe it would lighten those bags under his eyes that mirrored mine.

I stifled a yawn against the back of my hand, I could see from here the watch adorning James' wrist (the gift I had given him this Christmas) reading eleven thirty. I knew I should start thinking about trying to sleep myself and heaved myself up off the chair to go to my room with the full knowledge that I would wake up not even three hours later, freezing cold and near panic attack mode for the looming NEWTs I was always too cold these days.

I stopped short of passing the sofa. The look on James' face had turned from one of peace to a frown, it deepened steadily. I guessed that he was having a bad dream, most probably the one that was responsible for his own lack of sleep. Without thinking I reached down and smoothed the crease that had formed between his warm brows. The crease disappeared at my touch but he also showed signs of waking and I wanted anything but that for him right now.

Reaching out a trembling hand, I smoothed away the hairs that had fallen into his face as I'd been itching to do earlier, hoping it might soothe him. It was like silk! I was forced to admit that his hair was another thing I'd always found the_ teensiest bit_ attractive about him. There was a certain way he flicked it out of his face with a little toss of his head. It was the hair flick all the girls talked about and – due to an unfortunate habit – the flick that made me become a stuttering, bumbling fool every time I witnessed it and the same flick that had once caused me to walk into a door for not paying enough attention.

I continued to stroke his hair in what I hoped was a soothing manner and it seemed to be working. His breathing slowed and he had a small smile on his lips. He looked relaxed, but just as I was contemplating pulling away, James had to ruin it. He rolled onto his back; usually this wouldn't have been a problem but since my fingers were tangled in his hair, they ended up sandwiched between his head and the sofa cushion. I fell forwards from the angle of my wrist and had to grab the back of the sofa before I fell on him.

I tugged on my hand but it was securely trapped there. I tugged again but nothing. Bugger. Bugger bugger bugger!

My options as I could see: continue to try pulling hand free, he wakes up and sees me standing over him, I smile and claim innocence on all parts but look like a fool; fall on to him as I have just tripped so he wakes up, slyly remove hand whilst he's distracted (even though he'll probably notice), claim innocence on all parts and look like a clumsy fool; or alternately I could simply shake him awake, explain the entire humiliating situation, retrieve my hand with as much dignity as possible, claim innocence on all parts and exit as quickly as possible looking creepy, pathetic, slightly perverted and the biggest fool in fool-land.

So not only were those options considerably less than brilliant but they all involved James awake which was the very thing I was trying to avoid in the first place. And I was getting cramp in my wrist.

There was a small unoccupied space on the sofa so I perched myself right on the edge, it took the pressure from my arms.

I could feel the heat of his body so intensely where my hip brushed his chest that it felt like burning. I reclined slowly so that I could be more comfortable till I was half sitting, still trying to work my fingers free of his hair. Then, sleeping James must have decided his back wasn't comfy enough so rolled back onto his side again, releasing my fingers from behind his head. I sighed in relief and made to stand.

However, as I was removed from one problematic situation, I was dropped into a worse one. Burning arms, attached to that burning chest had found my hips and pulled my body against his. Now that he was on his side there was enough space so that I could fit on the sofa with him. I watched his face warily for any signs of waking but his face was peaceful. What on earth had I gotten myself into now?

I shimmied myself from half-reclining to lying beside him thinking that it would be easier to wriggle myself free of his embrace. Oh how wrong I was: instead of awkwardly hugging my hips, James' arms now circled my waist making it impossible for me to move up or down as he'd found the smallest circumference on my torso. Bugger! Bugger it all.

I allowed myself the indulgence of resting my forehead against his collar bone – only for a moment, and a second shudder rippled through my body as his curled further around me. I felt the ice deep inside me, suspiciously close to my heart, that no common room fire or extra layer of clothing could melt, begin to thaw.

Who knew James Potter – the James Potter, Head Boy, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Chief Marauder – liked to…snuggle?

Realising the position I was in, I snapped my eyes open from where they'd fallen closed. How would James react when he woke and found me in his arms like this?

The irony that it was only after James had given up his efforts towards me that I started to fall for him was not lost on me. The kiss on the cheek the other night had given me a tiny flame of hope but when he apologised and nothing had transpired, my tiny glow suffocated. This was our last year at Hogwarts, in mere months we'd be leaving and we'd go our own separate ways and we'd get jobs and we might never see each other again.

Using my hands pressed against his broad shoulders, I gently tried to push our bodies further apart and when that failed reached around my back to pry his fingers away all the while watching his face. A small line formed between his eyebrows again so I stopped. A red mark was forming on the bridge of his nose where his glassed dug in awkwardly so I removed them gently. I folded them and reached up to place them on the arm of the sofa above James' head.

His frown disappeared when, as I retracted my hand, my fingers grazed from his jaw down his neck. Heat seemed to radiate from his body into mine sending warm pulses from the back of my neck down to my toes. The lazy heat made my eyelids droop in exhaustion and I stifled another yawn against his pectoral muscle. His face pressed into the top of my head and his nose nuzzled a little into my hair.

A smile crept unbidden to my lips.

I rested my head on his chest again, feeling his heart beat thud beneath my hand and closed my eyes. Consequences be damned!

**James POV**

I drifted slowly into consciousness to find red.

Red? I blinked groggily but the red didn't go away.

The red was soft against my face and smelled better than anything I'd ever smelt before; unthinkingly I pressed deeper. Hmmm…

I froze.

The red smelt of apples. Lily smelt of apples. Lily had red hair. Slowly the cogs in my sleep befuddled brain started turning till it reached the conclusion: the red was Lily!

My eyes flew open and sure enough found Lily, curled up to me perfectly with her beautiful hair fanned out everywhere. It formed a halo around her head, from the little well my face had been pressed into to the long strands that dripped over the edge of the cushion.

Why were we on a sofa? Why was there a 'we'?

I studied the girl in my arms, an activity I enjoyed very much but was rarely allowed to do so openly or at such a close distance. She was so close that even without my glasses I could still see her clearly. Lily's face was even paler than usual as she slept, the adorable freckles across her nose and cheekbones more noticeable without her rosy blush. The light makeup that she wore had smudged around her eyelashes but she was still the most stunning thing I had ever laid eyes on.

Her hands were gathered delicately underneath her jaw and pressed against my chest, the thumb of one had found the gap between two buttons on my shirt and touched the sensitive skin there. I had dreamed of feeling Lily's elegant hands on my skin but never had I thought it would be so…electrifying.

My arms draped over the dramatic indent of her tiny waist, the hands attached to those arms feeling the gentle expansion and contraction of her fragile back with each breath that ruffled the fabric of my shirt. And, because I was a teenage guy, I noticed how her skirt had ridden up her slender legs to reveal a tiny patch of milky thigh above her stocking. It felt sacrilegious to be looking, especially without her knowledge so I tore my gaze away before I would do anything stupid like _reach out and stroke._

A year ago I had given up all hope of ever being able to hold Lily the was I currently; I'd made the decision to take whatever Lily was willing to give and that turned out to be a deep friendship. Sure we still pissed each other off sometimes and maybe we bickered enough to annoy even Sirius and okay, our rows could send 1st years running for cover but I wouldn't swap watching those piercing green eyes flash for anything in the world.

And now that I'd woken up holding her like this, I didn't know how I could ever live without it. Lily was…more. Lily was more than anything.

I tried to remember the circumstances that had brought me to this moment but couldn't. I relived the events in my mind's eye from seeing McGonagall to coming back to the head's dormitories to sitting on the sofa to…waking up now. I couldn't remember drinking and I didn't feel hung-over – actually, I felt better than I had in a long while. I couldn't remember hitting my head on anything. I don't think someone slipped me a potion. I couldn't even remember seeing Lily since yesterday morning.

I was so confused – not complaining, but very confused.

_I could stay like this forever._

The urge to kiss her took over me as it had done that fateful night after rounds, very gently, I pressed my lips to her hair. Lily made a small noise in the back of her throat, her nose crinkled in the cutest of ways then she opened her eyes, looking round sleepily. My god she was beautiful.

"Good morning." I said quietly. Those striking green eyes that I could just fall into finally looked up at my face. Her brow furrowed in her confusion and she did nothing but blink at me for numerous minutes.

"What time is it?" She asked, hiding a yawn with her hand. As I'd learned this past year, unlike myself, Lily was not a morning person. It showed.

I chuckled a little then raised a hand from the small of her back to check my favourite watch. "Ten past eight." I read aloud, then let the arm drop into its previous position.

"Too early for a Saturday." She mumbled, closing her eyes and nestling her head back into my chest. My eyes went wide with surprise and the hand that I'd lifted to remove the hair from her face paused.

Lily froze too. She looked up at me, those gorgeous eyes like saucers.

"Umm…"

"Lily, what happened last night? I can't remember anything-"

She pulled away from me suddenly, jumping straight up off the sofa and catching me off guard so I couldn't pull her back. My body rocked forward, no longer propped against hers so that I was on my stomach. My arm reached out for her, fingers scrabbling uselessly but now that she wasn't close I could only make out the blurred white blob of her school shirt against the dark background.

"Lily?" I called, sitting up now and feeling for my glasses. I could see her whiteness moving about frantically, probably collecting the stuff she always left lying round our common room on a night. My fingers chanced upon metal, I stood and I pulled the glasses onto my face just in time to see the swoosh of her hair as she disappeared out the portrait door.

I sprinted after her but the section of the library I could see from our dormitory entrance was deserted.

"Lily?" I called again but figured she'd be far away by now. I trudged back to our little living room then fell backwards onto the sofa that still smelled of her and groaned.

_What the hell?_

I pinched myself. Okay, down goes the dreaming theory.

**Lily POV**

"Why did I do it? Why did I do it?"

"If it's any consolation, I would've too."

"Don't you have a boyfriend Alice?"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate an all too fine specimen of the male counterpart of our species."

"Remind me why I'm friends with you again."

**Third Person POV**

Lily entered the head's common room silently, praying that James wasn't there so she could slip into her bedroom undetected. No such luck.

James was sat on the sofa staring pensively into the flames dancing around the fire place. He lurched to his feet the moment he heard the portrait door creek shut. "Lily!" He called. In panic, Lily made a bolt for her room but James was immediately in front of her.

"Um, James?"

"Yeah"

"Did you just jump over the sofa?"

"Maybe"

"Oh, I was just wondering…you know, how you got in front of me so fast and," She was babbling.

"Lily, what the hell was that this morning?"

She could feel her face burning in mortification but decided to be evasive. "I don't know what you mean." Okay, so that was a bad effort but his presence was flustering her. She was avoiding his eyes and his close body meant that the only thing she could see was his broad chest. Which just so happened to be covered in her favourite shirt – he black one that hugged so flatteringly.

"Lily, you've been avoiding me all day."

"I have _not_!"

All of the explanations Lily had been preparing today were now forgotten in his presence. In fact, Lily _had_ been avoiding him all day in Hogsmeade with Alice and that had been driving James insane because he'd been unsuccessfully scouring the Marauder's Map for her.

"Yes you have Lily. What happened last night?"

She wasn't prepared to answer that question yet so tried to duck past James into her room. His quick quidditch reactions allowed him to catch her arm before she could get very far. He apologised silently to his mother then aloud to Lily for his un-gentlemanly actions and tugged Lily by her arm to the sofa where it had all began.

"Get off of me!" She snapped at him and yanked at her arm.

"I'm sorr-" her second yank was successful in getting her arm free but he caught her again with both hands on the top of her arms.

"Lily please! Just don't be so stubborn for once. All I want is an explanation."

"Get o-!"

Before she could finish her sentence, her mouth was otherwise occupied.

By being in contact with his.

"I'm sorry." James said again after the brief, non-too-gentle, kiss.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," he said for the fourth time in as many minutes "I didn't mean…please don't run again." He let go of Lily's now limp arms and her body fell into a sitting position on the sofa.

James sat next to her carefully, tensed to catch her again if she tried another escape attempt. He felt like he was missing something important but for now he was just glad that she hadn't freaked out over his impromptu kiss, actually she hadn't done anything about it or the one the previous week. He was a little overwhelmed and disappointed that his first proper kiss with Lily (and probably his only chance) had been so impulsive that he'd been unable to appreciate it.

Still, his lips tingled.

"What happened last night? I can't remember anything from sitting on this sofa last night to waking up this morning with you. Did I do something? Did I do something to you?" His worry was resurfacing; earlier in the day Sirius had had to slap him to bring him out of a panic.

"No." She whispered, steeling her resolve to tell him the truth. He was one of her best friends now, he was obviously worried, he deserved to know what happened. Maybe she could just edit out her motives, maybe he would take her actions as a caring friend rather than nosy infatuated roommate. Maybe he would see right through her and they would lose the friendship they'd gained.

"No, you didn't do anything. It was all me."

"What do you mean?" As much as he loved her, Lily was the most confusing person James had ever met.

She took a deep breath. "Last night I came in and you were asleep on the sofa, I was pleased for you because, well we've both been having problems and then I was trying to do my work but you kept distra- I couldn't concentrate. When I was leaving you, um," it sounded so silly now that she was repeating it "you looked like you were having a bad dream so I tried to soothe you and then," Lily struggled for the words that would downplay her actions. Her face was so scarlet she worried it'd be permanently stained that way.

"Then?" James prompted when she took longer than expected.

"Then I sat down next to you and I must have fallen asleep too."

Something seemed to be missing to James but he ignored the niggling feeling. He'd take whatever Lily would offer and if that was friendship with the occasional sofa snuggle then he wouldn't complain.

"That's a relief. I thought I may have kidnapped you and seduced you or something without remembering." Lily's face, which had become its usual pale turned scarlet again.

"Sorry for running this morning, I should have just explained then." James felt there had been too many apologies for a single day and tried to lighten the mood.

"It's okay, I've been going out of my mind all day but it's okay." He slung his arm over the back of the sofa behind her shoulders to let her know there was no hard feelings on his part.

It was quiet for a while then simultaneously they raised hands to stifle mirroring yawns. James grinned down at her when they realised what they'd done and Lily bumped her shoulder into his playfully. She allowed herself to stay leaning against his chest, soft as it wasn't, it seemed to be the perfect place for her to rest – she just…fit.

The heady warmth his body seemed to emit made her yawn again.

But as comfy as her body was, her ponytail was digging into the back of her head and she could imagine it was digging into James' arm too. James, actually, was too preoccupied with the joy that she was laying against him in the first place.

Forcing life into her sleepy limbs, Lily sat up a little and James tensed thinking that she was going to pull away. He was transfixed as she pulled the hair tie free then shook her hair out, running her fingers through it and massaging her scalp a little. She leaned back into him and James suddenly found the hair that tinged his dreams with its colour all over him.

He raised a hand to slyly play with some strands near the back of her head so she couldn't see, determined to stick to what she would give him but unable to resist. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and he realised his sly attempts weren't really that sly at all. He thought she would rebuke him so dropped his hand back.

"Yeah, I know it's a mess." Lily ran her fingers through it a few more times.

"I like it." James told her. He couldn't see any mess – it looked as perfect as always. She blushed a little.

They were quiet for a long time, resting together easily. Like friends. Like best friends.

The niggling feeling returned to James, like he was missing something right under his nose. Things began compiling in his mind half subconsciously, puzzle pieces slotting together to form an image; the close friendship, the sleepless nightly meetings, the secret smiles, her non-reaction when he kissed her, her willingness to fall asleep on a couch next to him, even all the blushes made sense.

"You like me." He said his conclusion aloud and all of a sudden it made sense. Surely not. Surely after all this time it couldn't be true. But it made sense.

"You like me. You _like_ like me!" He repeated, getting more excited the longer he allowed the thought time to brew. Lily tensed as if for impact and began to slowly pull away.

"You like me!" James crowed gleefully, looking at her panicked face for the first time since his revelation.

Lily floundered as James mentally gave himself a high-five.

She attempted to deny it and got the words half out but found that she couldn't actually find the words that would save her remaining dignity but not be an outright lie. In the end she dropped her head into her hands. The hands over her face meant that she couldn't see the smile that was almost splitting James' face in half. There was a pregnant pause.

"Lily-" he began at the same time she started to speak. James stopped to allow her to finish and Lily pulled on all her Gryffindor courage to deliver her last sentence.

"I know you don't feel that way about me anymore but…well, now you know."

She stood, intending to finally retreat to her room, wallow in her misfortune and wonder how she was going to face him tomorrow.

James was too stunned to move for a few seconds, amazed that he was actually right.

By the time he'd fully come to his senses, Lily had reached the corridor that lead to their rooms. Now that the moment was here, the moment he'd been waiting for, for the past almost seven years of his life and he didn't know what to say. How could he explain his recent actions to her? How could he convince of his feelings?

She had almost reached her room, if he didn't act now he'd lose this moment and probably never get another one. But what to say?

"Lily!" he called as he ran after her; she didn't turn. When he saw the dejected set of her shoulders and her hand on the doorknob he knew.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and used it to spin her to face him. Lily stumbled and James steadied her, he brushed away the hair that had fallen behind her ear and cupped her cool creamy cheek in his large warm hand. He gently pressed his body into hers, urging her to walk backwards until her back hit the wall beside the door.

Keeping eye contact right up to the last minute, James leant in and carefully brushed his lips over hers in what should have been their first kiss.

Lily was statuesque in her stillness but he kept his lips over hers and eventually the heat of his body defrosted her frozen muscles.

With a little gasp she stole the air from his mouth, then her hands were in his hair and she was tugging him closer until she was sandwiched between his body and the wall so tightly it was almost to the point of pain. James responded with so much enthusiasm he lifted her off her feet for a moment.

They broke apart swollen-lipped and gasping.

One of James's arms stayed locked around her waist but the other trailed up her side and along her arm the was around his neck. Finally his hand found hers and he took it, entwining their fingers and pinning her hand to the wall like he had her body. It was gesture of dominance but his thumb tickled circles over hers.

She tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth until he kissed her again.

"What was that about me not feeling the same anymore?" James laughed with pure joy when they broke apart for the second time.

It took Lily a moment to gather her thoughts, still flustered from the kiss. "But, you stopped-" She forgot the rest of her sentence when he sucked on her neck, hell, she forgot her name when he did that. She used the hand still in his hair to pull his eyes to hers so she could concentrate.

"You stopped asking me out all the time…"

His smile was gentle, blissful. "Because I knew you didn't like it. It's always been you Lily, only you."

"Oh."

James's grin segued into a playful smirk. "Does this mean you'll be my girlfriend now?"

Lily grinned. "Only if you kiss me like that again."


End file.
